Edson l bryant



(No Model.)

- E. L. BRYANT.

SHADE HOLDER.

Patented Mar. 28, 1882.

N. Pmzns Pholomhagnphcr. Washington. 0. c

UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICEQ EDQOB. L BRYANT, OF ANSONIA, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO WALLACE & sons, or SAME PLACE.

SHADE-HOLDER.

'SPEGIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 255,588, dated March 28, 1882.

Application filed February 1, 1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDsoN L. BRYANT, of Ansonia, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented new Improve ments in Shade-Holders; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to'be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in-

Figure 1, a sectional side view; Figs. 2, 3, and 4, detached views enlarged.

This invention relates to an improvement in i5 holders for that class of lamp-shades which are suspended from above, and usuallyin frustum of cone shape, and such as employed for hanging lamps. In some cases these shades are held by a rigid ring or support at the neck,

which allows but a slight variation of the size of shade, so that care must be exercised by the person using 'the shade that an exact size beobtained. In other cases the shade rests upon aring at the bottom. Here again the same difficulty occurs inrequiring the precise size of shade.

It frequently occurs in the use of this class of fixtures that one person will requirea shade of very much larger diameter than another- 0 that is'to say, one person requires a twelveinch shade, where another person with the same lamp will require a fourteen-inch shade. Hence the dealer must keep a corresponding variety of fixtures.

The object of my invention is the construction of a shade-holder which will take various sizes ofshade, support it firmly, and avoid the stationary ring or bearing at the top or bottom which limits the size of the shade 5 and the invention consists in two or more hangers extendingfrom the fixture above the shade do wnward and hinged at their upper end, so as to freely swing radially outward or inward, their lower ends constructed to engage the lower edge of the shade independent of any bearing upon the shade above or other bearing at the bottom th an that afforded by the hangers themselves, as more fully hereinafter described.

A represents the lamp-supports extending 50 from the lamp-rest at the bottom, and may be of any of the usual shapes. To these lampsupports a ring, B, is attached above, and to that ring two or more hangers, C, are hinged," (here represented as made from wire,) their upper end coiled aronnd'a wire, a, in the ring, as" seen in Fig. 2, and so as to swing freely there on in a radial plane. Each of the said hang- I ers C terminate at their lower end in a hook,

I). These hangers are in length greater than the depth ofshade. When free theywillhang in nearly a vertical position. The shade is passed up or down outside the hangers until the hooks may be engaged with the lower edge,

as seen in Fig. 2. There should be three of these, hangers, so as to engage at points equidistant on the edge of the shade. The shade rests on the hangers within the hooks, and is held without any other support or fastening. The hangers, being free for radial movement, will receive and hold shades of great variation in diameter. As, for illustration, suppose the shade in Fig. l to be a large shade and the person requires a small shade, the large shade is removed and a small shade introduced, bringing the hangers down into aless inc-lined position, as seen in broken lines, Fig. 1.

In introducing the smaller diameter of shade it necessarily brings the lower edge downward.

In some cases this might be an objection, to provide against which, as well as to make the shade adjustable to various heights, I attach the ring B, to which thehangers are hinged, to the vertical part D of the lamp-supports by a socket, so that the said ring is adjustable up and down thereon and secured to the supports by a set-screw, d, or otherwise, as seenin'Fig.

3. By this arrangement the shade may be adj usted to various elevations with relation to the lamp.

There being no bearing upon the shade at a the top against which the shade will rest, the shade is not liable to the accidents which occur from such rigid bearing induced by the heat of the lamp or by the jar in raising and lowering the lamp in extension-fixtures, the 5 hangers giving. such an amount of flexibility to the shade that no breaking-concussion can occur in raising or lowering the lamp. Neither can it be affected by the expansion or contraction induced by the heat of the lamp. The ma hangers also allow a certain play to the shade, so that any contact or blow which would break a shade rigidly hung would simply swing the shade out of its normal position, to which it would return when the force that moved it ceased to act.

I am aware that lamp-shades have been'secured by devices extending down within the shade, and so as to engage with the lower edge, and therefore do not broadly claim such a device; butin such previous constructionsa bearing has been necessary for the upper edge of the shade and the devices have been of such character as to draw the shade up to its bearing against the" ring at the top, whereas in this invention the angers are rigid and support the shade without bearings of any character at the top, and because of these rigid bearings and 1.0 bearing at the top shades of difierent diameters of top may be suspended. Neither do I claim a shade-holder adjustable to different elevations relatively to the lamp.

I claim 1. In a lamp-fixture, the rigid hangers O, hinged at their upper ends and hooked below to engage the lower edge of the shade, substantially as described.

2. In a lamp-fixture, the combination of the ring B, attached to the lamp-supports, with the rigid hangers (J, hinged thereto, extending downward, and hooked at their lower ends to engage the lower edge of the shade, substantially as described.

3. In a lamp-fixture, the combination of the ring 13, made adjustable vertically on the lampsupports, the rigid hangers O, hinged to said ring and vertically adjustable therewith, their lower ends hooked to engage the lower edge of the shade, substantially as described.

EDSON L. BRYANT.

Witnesses:

F. L. GAYLORD, G. H. HAWLEY. 

